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Dec. 6, 2005 The Christian Community often express concerns that pagans and secular humanist folks are out to "de-Christianize" the United States. School kids used to have Christmas vacation now they have a winter break. Christmas trees are now holiday trees. A young boy was sent home from school for dressing like Santa Claus. Nativity scenes on government property is outlawed. The "X" takes the Christ out of Christmas or does it?. Xristos is Christ in Greek. Early Christians used the first initial of Christ's name, "X" in place of the word Christ in Christmas as a shorthand form of the word. Modern Christians who do not know the origin of X-mas consider "Xmas" as a sign of disrespect. If the Hebrews did the same, Christmas would be Y-Mas or maybe YBD-Mas since Christ was known as Yeshua Ben David. December the 25th is most likely not the actual birthday of Christ. Nevertheless, it is a celebration of birth of Christ. There was a time when Christianity was persecuted religion. Roman emperor Constantine converted to Christianity. He declared Christianity the official religion December 25th, the birthday of the pagan Sun god, Mithraism became the official birthday of Jesus. The 12 day long celebration of the Sun God became the Season of Christmas. The Church and state were one and mandatory Christianity became the law of land. In the 1500,'s, Martin Luther nailed his Ninety-Five Theses to the door of the Wittenberg Church. That document contained an attack on papal abuses and the sale of indulgences by church officials. This was the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. Also in the 1500's King of England Henry VIII, was upset because his Catholic Wife, Catherine, could not bear him a son. He had his eye on Anne Boleyn. The bishop of Rome would not annul Henry's marriage to Catherine so that he could marry Anne. This was the start of the Anglican Reformation. Soon the Catholics were on the run. The song "The Twelve Days of Christmas" was actually a coded message that allowed prosecuted Anglican Catholics to sing about their faith without risk of imprisonment.. Christmas was originally considered a season rather than just one day. The season was for 12 days from December 25th to January 5th - and "Old Christmas" was celebrated on the first day of Epiphany which is January 6 th. . During the English Protestant Reformation, from 1558 to 1829; Catholics were forbidden by law to practice their faith. "The Twelve Days of Christmas sounded like rhyming nonsense so the authorities would not know that it was a religious song. Parliament finally emancipated Catholics in England in 1829. We also have the holiday of Thanksgiving which is a celebration of persecuted religious extremists who sail to America and gave thanks to God for helping them to survive their first year in the New World? Once they got here, they were free to their religious practices but other religious practices including traditional Christmas celebrations were outlawed. Transgressing parties who did not toe the line found themselves publicly humiliated, shackled in the stocks or in the dunking tank. In extreme cases, such as the Salem Witch Trails, people were executed for being witches and the clergy would acquisition their property. There was not one executed person in Salem who was actually a Witch. History shows that the separation of church and state is a good thing. Do kings, emperors, dictators and politicians really need to be dictating the spiritual path of the citizens. Granted, there are Christians who feel that "X" takes the Christ out of Christmas. It saddens them to not see nativity scenes at city halls. On the other hand, their churches and religious artifacts will not be demolished. The Clergy will not be put in the tower. Nobody will get thrown to the lions or burnt at the stake. There will be midnight Christmas masses in Churches all over the United States. Most folks regardless of religious beliefs don't object to a day off or a paid holiday. ------------ About the author: Bonijean Isaacs is a freelance writer and Astrologer in West Virginia. Email: inez4liberty@gmail.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com. Please link to this article rather than copying and pasting it onto your site (which would be unauthorized and illegal). |
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